Greeting card



Nov, 4, 1952 s, Roam 2,616,199

GREETING CARD Filed A il 20, 1950 Patented Nov. 4, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GREETING CARD Seymour Robins, New York, N. Y.

Application April 20, 1950, Serial No. 157,133

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates primarily to greeting cards, and has particular reference to a novel type of card so designed and constructed that it is, in fact, an expansible three-dimensional ornament, yet it may be folded flat and mailed in the same manner as conventional cards.

In its preferred form, the invention consists of an ornament of a shape suggestive of a ball or sphere and comprising a plurality of flat cards or card-like sections, which are joined, yet shiftable with respect to each other, and are ordinarily provided with a cord or hanger by which the entire ornament may be suspended. It is contemplated that several sections may have ornamental printing thereon, and may be inscribed with messages or greetings as desired. Also, the card may be personalized, as by inscribing the name of the sender on one of the sections thereof or on a separate card, which may be afiixed to and carried on the hanger.

It is thus the primary object of the invention to provide an article of manufacture adapted to serve as a greeting card of unitary design when mailed in flat condition, but which is so designed and constructed that, when suspended, the card is self-acting or activated in such a manner as to expand into a three-dimensional ornament suitable for hanging on a Christmas tree or for other decorative uses.

Another object is to provide an expansible decoration designed to have the greatest possible light reflecting properties when expanded, yet so formed that it will not only lie perfectly flat in a conventional mailing envelope, but will also be able to withstand the rough handling to which holiday mail is often subjected.

A further object of the invention is to provide, as an article of manufacture, a three-dimensional ornament as indicated above, wherein the several sections are so freely movable as to be influenced by even the slightest movement of air about them, so that they are all mobile in normal use. The result is that their motion tends to attract attention, and their attractiveness is enhanced by the increased light reflecting characteristics resulting therefrom.

Another object of the invention is to provide an article of manufacture which as manufactured and transported is in normally flat condition, but when put to use by lifting or suspending by one of its members, becomes a three-dimensional object suitable for ornamentation or display structure.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a three-dimensional ornament according to the present teaching, showing the manner in which the ornament expands as it is withdrawn from its mailing envelope and suspended on its hanger;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of a mailing envelope for the ornament, showing the manner in which it lies flat in the envelope in transit; and

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the plane of the line 3--3 of Figure 1.

The illustrated species of the invention, consists of a plurality of thin, flat, relatively stifi card sections, all of which are shown as being of circular shape and of progressively different sizes, with each of the larger sections having an open center somewhat smaller than the outer diameter of the next smaller card, and the entire group held together by interlocking notches. On each pair of cards, one pair of notches extends inwardly from the outer periphery of the innermost card, and interlocks with another pair extending outwardly from the inside edge of the circular openings therein. The appearance of this ornament, when held-in suspended position, is illustrated in Figure 1.

This ornament, generally designated as H], is here illustrated in the position it assumes as it is lifted from its mailing envelope II and suspended by a hanger 12 secured to suspension means I3. As shown, the hanger 12 comprises a flexible cord having a wire hook M which, when the card is mailed, is placed on the supporting tab l5 of the envelope where it will be in easily accessible position under the closure flap i6. Thus, when the ornament is to be mailed, it is folded flat (as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 2) and enclosed in the flat envelope ll so that it may be sent through the mail in the manner'customary with holiday greeting cards. When this is to be done, the recipients name and address will ordinarily be inscribed on the back panel of the envelope as shown, and the stamp and postmark will appear in the positions indicated at I1 and I8, respectively. Thus, the ornament here described may be folded perfectly flat for mailing and, of course, may be inscribed with legends, verses or any type of holiday greeting extending thoughts of the season from the sender to the recipient.

The ball type ornament comprises essentially four thin, relatively stiff, circular cards or sections 2!, 22, 23 and 24. The card section 2| may be termed as the main body member of the ornament, since it carries the suspension means l3 to which the cord or hanger I2 is attached, and because all of the other sections are supported by it.

The hanger I 2, which is attached to the suspension means l3, supports the main body section 2| at a point on the vertical axis of symmetry of the greetin card but far remote from its center of gravity (which is, of course, approximately at its geometric center), with the result that when the unit is suspended by the cord, the card 2| will lie in a substantially vertical plane. The outer diameter of the card 22 is somewhatgreater than the inside diameter of the open center of the card 2|, so that the notches 25 on the inside edge of the card 2| may be interlocked with coacting notches 26 on the outside-edge of the smaller card 22. These notches 25-26 are provided in two pairs on opposite sides of the ornament so thatthey provide, in effect, a free pivot between the main body member or card 2| and the card 22, which forms one of the secondary body members.

The cards 22 and 23 are freely pivoted to each other by interlocking the notches 21-28, which are similar to the notches 25-46 with the exception that they are disposed at right angles thereto so that the cards 2|, 22 and 23 each lie in a different plane as shown. The cards 23 and 24 are also interlocked by the notches 29 and 30, so that all of the component body members'of the ornament are freely pivoted with respect to each other. Also, each section is supported solely by the next larger member. That is, the smallest member (the member24) is supported solely on the member 23, which is in turn supported solely on the member 22 carried in its free pivot mounting on the member 2|.

When the ornament is to be mai1ed, the several component cards of the body may be swung to generally fiat parallel position, so. that the entire unit may be inserted into a fiat mailing envelope of any conventional type (Figure 2). The ornament may be withdrawn from the envelope, however, by simply lifting the. hanger, as shown in Figure 1, whereupon the several sections of the card automatically open to their three d-imensional shape illustrated. For greatest convenience in opening the envelope and withdrawing the ornament therefrom, it iscohtempla ted that the hanger of the ornament be attached to some particularly accessible point on the envelope, as by the tab l positioned just under the closure flap Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desiretosecure by United States Letters Patent is:

As an article of manufacture, an expansible ball ornament comprising, in combination, a main 4 body member consisting of a single, thin, flat, relatively stiff card section having a circular open center therein with a series of at least two narrow, annular, ring-like, secondary body members disposed within said open center, with each of the secondary body members comprising a thin, flat, stiff card and having an outer diameter less than the diameter of an adjacent body member but greater than the diameter of the open center of said adjacent body member, with the secondary body members each extending through the open center in an adjacent body member, and with each adjacent pair of said body members loosely interlocked to the next adjacent body member by two opposite pairs of interlocking notches, one pair of said notches extending inwardly from the outer diameterof one of said body members and the coacting notches extending outwardly from the open center in another body member, the notches between the difierent body members being locked on different diametrical axes of the ornament so that each of the series of secondary body members is pivotedfor free swinging movement in a different plane from another of said members. SEYMOUR ROBINS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

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